مطالب

This explanatory sequential mixed-method study aimed to investigate the washback effect of a local English Proficiency Exam (the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology Test (MSRT)) on Iranian Ph.D. candidates' English language learning skills. The study also examined the changes Iranian Ph.D. candidates perceive as essential to make the MSRT module implementation more useful for English learning. To this end, a sample of 150 Ph.D. candidates with differences in gender, age, and major were invited from Islamic Azad universities of Shiraz and Marvdasht to complete a questionnaire designed in terms of MSRT washback. The participants were chosen through a combination of stratified and convenience sampling methods. Furthermore, a sample of 20 PhD candidates from the same population was selected based on purposeful sampling and participated in the semi-structured interview sessions. The results of the data analysis represented some positive and negative washback effects on MSRT. Moreover, the participants suggested some recommendations on necessary changes and alterations for the MSRT test to facilitate university English learning further. Their feedback was in line with their viewpoints on why MSRT preparation had not satisfactorily prepared them to manage university workloads. The pedagogical implications will be discussed.

Using Kane's interpretive argument model and Messick's validity argument approach, this study rigorously examined faculty and PhD candidate’s perspectives on PhD admission interviews in Iranian universities. We interviewed 10 professors and PhD interviewees which provided comprehensive insight into nuanced perspectives. We conducted rigorous content analysis to identify prevalent themes, forming a strong foundation for our analysis. This study emphasizes the vital requirement for standardized evaluation criteria, robust support systems, and an enhanced interview process to ensure fair and inclusive admission systems. Additionally, our development of guidelines based on Toulmin's reasoning model underscores the originality of our contribution and its potential to benefit stakeholders and the Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology (MSRT) in Iran. The findings highlighted the importance of standardized criteria, support, and a stronger interview process for fairness and inclusivity in selecting PhD candidates. Faculty stressed clear guidelines to remove subjectivity, while candidates voiced concerns about unclear expectations and proposed added support like mentoring and preparation programs. Based on Toulmin's reasoning model, the study crafted validity argument guidelines for this context. As a result, these proposed changes will impact stakeholders and the MSRT by enhancing the PhD candidate evaluation process and ensuring a fairness and inclusivity. This study provides valuable insights to improve PhD admission procedures at Iranian universities by integrating standardized criteria, enhancing support mechanisms, and fostering fairness in decision-making.

Recognition the relationship of the verses inside a surah and structural research of that surah are new approaches that although there were detailed in earlier commentaries, but has been considered so seriously by more recent Qur’ān scholars. According to the science of surah recognition, every surah has a purpose and its own specific main subject, so that the all verses of surah circulate around it thereby the meaningful relationship between its verses are recognised. In this study, according to the method of surah recognition, the conceptive structure of the two Surahs Nās and ʿAṣr and the links and reciprocal interaction between the two surahs Nās and Falaq as a case study are reviewed. Therefore, this research revolves around two axes: Methodology of structural research in the Qur’ān; including topics like: Stages and principles of structural research, thematic units (Rukūʿāt) and gradual revelation of the Qur’ān, linkage and connection between the surahs, thematic axis or basic subject of surahs, difference between structural research and interpretation, and at the end of this paper, the meaning and structural cognition of the two Surahs Nās and ʿAṣr are discussed. Based on this research, the exact semantic connection between Surah Nās and Falaq was extracted, and then Surah ʿAṣr was conceptualized using the method of pondering (tadabbur); and as a result, it was concluded that Surah ʿAṣr, despite its small volume, is the most comprehensive and complete Surah of the Qur’an, which contains heavenly and life-giving Quranic teachings

 On the Elaboration of Contexts of Situation with Special Reference toRequesting Strategies in BaliI Made Netra  , I Made Suastra  , & I Putu SutamaAbstractOver the last two decades, the study of meaning has been done utilizing context of situation. It has been practiced in determining the speaker’s meanings in languages around the world. However, this research attempts to develop an elaborated form of context of situation in a culture-specific Balinese language and to explicate the speaker’s meaning bound by the elaborated context. To this end, an approach of participatory observation was applied which  was qualitative and  descriptive in nature. The data were collected from respondents and informants of Buleleng and Gianyar regencies,considering that although they share the same language, their understanding on requesting strategies, however, might be different. Requesting strategies in Balinese is contextually bound by a given and elaborated context of situation, which is referred to as Desa Kala Patra functioning both as a context of situation and an adjustment for language effectiveness.  The elaborated context is immensely applicable to different requests. The requests are articulated based on the Balinese cultural scripts. Again, as an elaborated context of situation, Desa Kala Patra can bind the requesting strategies.  As an adjustment for language effectiveness, Desa Kala Patra can mostly shift the direct strategies into indirect ones. Indirect requests can be expressed by asking, tag-questioning, giving information, giving advice, providing alternative points, offering, complaining, greeting, and inviting. The practices of requesting are configured by low-level scripts using exponents of philosophical aspects, Desa Kala Patra itself, “ if/then” condition, mechanism, results, and concluding statement.

Reading and reciting the Shahnameh in Persian was popular not only in Persianate lands, like some parts of the Caucasus and Central Asia, but in Ottoman empire as well. Furthermore, some of the stories of the Shahnameh were known through oral tradition. Copying and making illuminated manuscripts of the Shahnameh was another method of spreading the fame of Ferdowsi. Ferdowsi, like many other poets of Iran, had considerable influence on the Ottoman literature. The present article examines translations and imitations of the Shahnameh in Turkish Lands.